


A Five, Long Step Process That Teaches You How to Heal

by HaloRocks1214



Category: Original Work
Genre: (most of this story is when shes a minor so), 5+1 Things, Abuse, Abusive Relationships, Bruises, Bullying, Child Abuse, Dark, F/F, Fate & Destiny, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Mythical Powers, Nosebleed, Protective Older Brothers, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Harm, Whumptober 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-10
Updated: 2018-10-10
Packaged: 2019-07-29 06:44:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16258808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HaloRocks1214/pseuds/HaloRocks1214
Summary: Ellen has dealt with many different kinds of bruises throughout her life, most of them on her own with no help whatsoever.But it's fine, she handled it back then she can handle it now, no need to get worked up over old scars, even if they are/were something no one should go through, let alone a kid with the entire world on her shoulders.aka 5 times my OC hid her pain for the "greater good" and one time where her family didn't let it slide.





	A Five, Long Step Process That Teaches You How to Heal

**Author's Note:**

> **please heed the warnings, potential dark/triggering things below here**

1.

Walking-- er, _skating_ , up to her locker, 13-year-old Ellen was ready to go _home_. It was the weekend, she has minimal homework, there were many things she wanted to do that couldn’t be done in a school classroom, and, her moms were bringing home _pizza_.

Any long day could be remedied by pizza. Skating on her self-made skating shoes (not exactly Heelys, but her parents said no about the actual kind so she made her own) down the hallway, all she had to do was turn a corner, open her locker, then it would be home sweet home from there.

Which is where she was, turning the corner and was about 15 feet from her locker. She could see it now, sleeping in until 2:00, eating cold pizza as her meals, she-

She tripped over a leg that got shot out in front of her at the last second. After a few more strides, her face ended up slamming into the locker she couldn’t wait to see. Sliding down it (and leaving blood, probably) cartoon style, Ellen heard feminine giggling. Shaking off the confusion, she turned around, and yep.

Maximina, along with her duo bitch posse Kathleen and Carol. Along aside them was Gerald with his leg sticking out. Ellen scowled at the perpetrators, who paid no heed to the bloody-nosed girl they just inconvenienced.

Max eventually finished laughing, “Thanks Gerry, I’ll be sure to get the answer sheet for you by tomorrow okay?”

‘Gerry’ scoffed, “Whatever.” The kid walked away. Max turned back to her injured prey with a grin akin to the Joker and Jeff, just less bloody. However, 100% of the malice was there.

See, Ellen has a predicament. Since Max’s little Daddy was head of the school board, anything she and her little ragtag group of dirty do-ers did to her either wouldn’t get punished or if they did, she would weasel herself into her father's arms and get them out of trouble.

From what she was saying, it seems she would do just that and get Gerald the answer sheet for him giving up his services and tripping Ellen, who was, at the time, going at full speed. Speaking of which, this entire time she has been monologuing, Ellen has been on her knees looking up at the three chicks who were now surrounding her.

“Look at her, girls,” Max pointed at Ellen’s face, “It seems the idiot can’t walk properly, figures, she uses the little brain capacity she has to barely function.” The bitch duo laughed along with Max. Ellen clenched her fists on her pants.

She’s learned not fighting back is better. It lets them get it out (despite being not really at it in the first place), and Ellen’s learning punching back just results in them not only getting off scot-free but her also completely shunned by everyone else for throwing a punch in the first place.

She watched as the trio of devils walked away from her as she stood up shakily. Looking around, she saw everyone else do the two things they normally do when something like this happens: laughing along (not so) secretly or outright ignoring it.

Ellen sighed and felt the blood rush out of her nose. Gripping it tightly, Ellen turned around and went back to what she planned to do in the first place. She eventually made it out of the school and started wheeling home.

She got in the apartment and, thankfully, it was empty. She knows how much it bothers her moms when they see the repercussions of the bullying they can’t fix but sure as hell tried to. Throwing her bag onto the counter, she ran into the bathroom and looked in the mirror.

Oof, the blood dripping down her chin was pretty bad, but Ellen can tell it’s just a bruised nose. Taking about half an hour, Ellen was able to clean it up and make it look like nothing had happened at all. Good, she was getting better at it.

Taking another half hour, Ellen worked on the little homework she had with ease. As she put everything away, her parents walked in and yelled, “Pizza Party!”

Finally, Ellen’s been waiting for this. They all pile onto the couch and start watching a wide variety of movies into the night. If either mom notices the slightly bigger nose they either don’t mention it or just forgot to. Hopefully, it’s just that Ellen is getting good at the makeup buis-nich.

Completing the cycle, Ellen got into the shower at 4:35 a.m., breathed through the pain of water hitting her sensitive nose, got out, took ibuprofen, put on her nightgown and got into bed. It would take one more half hour for her to finally fall asleep.

Waking up in the morning, Ellen heard her moms in the kitchen, so she was extra quiet in getting to the bathroom. Turning on the light, she looked at her deformed nose.

Again, it was just badly bruised, but now the colors were there, and they were pretty dark. Whatever, Ellen can put more layers of makeup for the next 2-3 weeks. She also took three ibuprofen for the pain and a handful so she could have a nice supply for later.

She walked into the kitchen and was greeted with warmth. It was like her moms assumed her day was 100% fantastic. Why wouldn’t they? That’s the impression Ellen was trying to give off while hanging out with them last night.

Ellen sat down at the table and a plate of french toast was put in front of her. Yea, okay, if everything was like this, Ellen was willing to hide a few bruises. 

It was just something she had to deal with, no biggie.

 

2.

14-year-old Ellen’s not sure how she got to this point, but here she is.

Briana had just gripped her and picked her up with even more force than before. It caught Ellen off guard so she wasn’t able to perform her part of the routine and they both went crashing to the ground. Shaking off the crash, Ellen rubbed of some ice while her girlfriend stood up and skated away a few feet.

Huh, she wants Ellen to stand up by herself. Fine, after taking way longer than needed, Ellen stood up to her full height and looked at her girlfriend’s glare right in her eyes. Brianna had a lot to say.

“Seriously, we’ve had this routine for weeks, the fact that you still can’t handle it makes me question this relationship.” Briana skated back and forth in a pacing motion.

‘Maybe give a warning next time, I might just be able to get more than 5 seconds into the routine that way, but whatever.’ Remember, fighting back only makes it worse.

“When I admitted my feelings that night, I never expected the strong lady I met was really a fragile child. Maybe I should’ve left you under than ice, would’ve done you better.” Briana stopped pacing and had her back to Ellen.

Alright, Ellen had to say something to that, “Well if you feel that strongly just say something and cut it off if this is so draining to you.”

Briana froze. Shit, _shit shit shit_ what did Ellen just tell herself? Fighting back makes it worse? Before Ellen could say anything, Briana turned back and looked at her girlfriend with a tight smile. Ellen feels it shouldn’t have been that obvious to tell.

Briana skated up to Ellen and the latter flinched and closed her eyes, only to feel two hands touch each shoulder. Ellen reopened her eyes and saw the same gentle smile she saw the night she met Briana.

“Oh, I’m sorry honey, you know when I get mad I say things I don’t mean,” Briana brushed some loose hair on Ellen behind the ear, “gosh, what was I even thinking saying that! I hope you can forgive me, but if not, I’ll collect my stuff and start walking down the path of shame.”

Ellen slightly grimaced with her girlfriend’s hands still on her shoulders, “It’s okay, I guess, just, uh- you know I already have difficulty with sayings and thoughts like that.”

Briana sighed overdramatically, “Thank goodness you understand. Considering my outburst, I think it would be best for me to head home and get some sleep. I feel you oughtta do the same too, ya hear me?”

Ellen nodded her head stiffly. She watched Briana shake her head, leave Ellen’s side to go get her stuff and leave the arena. Ellen let out a sigh she didn’t know she had been holding. Ellen did the same and only took around 45 minutes to get home. Her parents were gone, so she shouldn’t have to worry.

She did her nightly routine: brushed teeth, then showered, then brushed her hair and put it in a damp braid. However, tonight she decided to eye what new marks she got from this practice. Counting them up, she had around 3-5 new marks on her arms and 6-8 on her legs, damn.

Well, hopefully, tomorrow will be better, if not the bruising part, at least the attitude. Man, Briana has gotten bad. When they first started dating, Briana was one of the best things to happen to Ellen. Of course, Briana made her keep their relationship a secret. 

While Ellen’s family would welcome her pansexuality with open arms, Briana’s family would lose their marbles over the idea of their daughter even being remotely interested in the same gender. So, as of right now, it’s their little secret, and one of Ellen’s favorites.

That is, until now. Briana was sweet, gentle, and very understanding of Ellen’s plights when they first met. Now she’s aggressive and easily annoyed, more volatile than what she was way back when. Whatever, maybe she had a bad day, Ellen knows how bad they can get, but part of her wonders if she should be more worried…

The next day at practice, Ellen soon figured out she should’ve followed her gut. Maybe it was how quiet Briana entered the ice rink, maybe it was the fact she got into practice without saying high, or maybe it was when they were doing a special move that required focus and Ellen was dropped.

Hard, and something akin to what Ellen assumes is deliberately. Landing with a resounding ‘snap’ and her knee becoming on fire in the cold ice rink, Ellen cried out and rolled away from the area of impact.

Ellen’s pretty sure she blacked out for a second because she opened her eyes to a not-clear vision and feeling out of it. Shock, most likely. Ellen pushed herself shakily onto her arms as much as possible and looked towards her girlfriend.

She was currently running up the stairs to the doors to the outside. Ellen watched her look back as if she was checking to see if everything was completed. Then, she disappeared from sight.

Ellen felt like crying, for many reasons she couldn’t put into words. However, she had a long and grueling process to get through. She gripped and crawled and jabbed her fingers into the ice to get to the bench area with her stuff.

She grabbed her phone with tears now down her face and dialed 911. When the receiver picked up, she answered all the questions and was told an ambulance was coming soon. However, there was one question she couldn’t fully tell the truth for.

“How did you end up breaking your knee?”

‘... I, uh, it was- I was ice skating, by myself. The skate got stuck in the ice and I was flung forward.”

“Mmm hmm, hopefully, you’ll learn to have someone with you next time.” 

‘I did.’ Ellen commented to herself. Eventually, the ambulance came and she was taken to the hospital. Eventually after that, her parents would run into the room and gather her up in their arms with tears in her eyes. Finally, the doctor would come in as well.

Ellen got lucky, with some therapy she can have no lasting damage, she just has to stretch before doing strenuous activities involving her legs. She was told by both the doctor and her parents that what she did was really stupid and she should have someone with her next time.

Alright, okay, it’s fine. She’d rather be indirectly called stupid than have her family find out another person she trusted had betrayed her like so many before.

Ellen would like to not think about it either.

 

3.

“Ah! Randall, come in! We have a lot to talk about!”

‘Randall’ walked into their apartment with a giant smile, “Thank you so much! We have a lot to discuss, correct?”

“Correct indeed. Oh! Wait a second.” Amy went over to the hallway, “Sweetie! Come here! I want you to meet someone!”

Steps were heard bounding down the wooden floor. Popping around the corner was a teenage girl with her shoulder length hair in a ponytail at the back of her head. She seemed tired.

“Randall, this is my daughter Ellen! Please, you two, get to know each other. I’ll go get my wife to help with the food!” Amy left the room, leaving Ellen and Randall to get situated.

“Hi, nice to meet you, my name is Randall.” He put his hand out for her to shake, but Ellen was somewhat turned off. God, he uses the same dumb condescending voice everyone does. She’s 15 for Christ’s sake!

Ellen shook his hand nonetheless, “Uh, nice to meet you too, Randall. If you excuse me, I was doing something important in my room, so I’ll be heading back-”

Ellen turned but was met with an iron-tight grip on her wrist. She was spun around to see a rather less than pleased face on the newcomer.

“Excuse me? Who taught you such disrespect?! Come and listen in on our meeting, I feel it will do you good.” Getting yanked over to the couch, Randall sat in a chair while Ellen looked at and rubbed her wrist. Jesus, who taught _you_ such disrespect, damn…

Eventually, Ellen’s moms came in with food and Randall was back to his cheery self. Throughout the meeting, they talked about ways to improve funding, sponsors, ads, etc etc. All the while, Ellen sat there and listened but didn’t join in.

… Huh, her moms were really happy throughout that entire ordeal. After Randall left and they were cleaning dishes, Ellen asked who he was.

“Randall? Why he’s a college friend! He helped us out during tough times, so we figured we could use his insight for this too. It was fun seeing him again.”

Ellen thanked her moms and went to her room. Locking her door, Ellen plopped herself down onto her bed. Old friend huh?

Gosh, her wrist hurt. That man had a tough grip, no doubt it would bruise. That’s right, Ellen should go tell them what he did-

_It was fun seeing him again._

Ellen stopped... She remembered just how happy her moms were talking to him, how they regained the energy they had lost over the past couple of days… Ellen inhaled sharply and went back to her bed to lay down.

Alright, it’s cool. If a little discomfort makes someone happy, then, in the end, it’s worth it. 

It’s what she always thought, anyway.

 

4.

“Gaaah!! Mother fucking son of a whore!”

15-year-old Ellen banged her thigh on a table corner again. If she wasn’t in such a shit mood her language would’ve been a little better. Can’t wait to see that mark bruise nicely.

She was currently home alone, and, quite frankly, had nothing to do. Her parents wouldn’t be home until tomorrow night (it was the early afternoon) Ellen had read everything they had to offer, and the art block she was experiencing was _b r u t a l_.

Letting out another groan, Ellen marched back to her room and plopped face first onto her bed. She shoved her face into her pillow and squeezed it tight. She was content with just laying there, hopefully, to melt away from this boring life, then she felt where she bumped herself.

Ellen pulled her legs up onto the bed, leaned against the headboard and sat crisscross over her covers. Pulling her pants leg up as well, she looked at the mark that was forming. It was… kinda nice, actually. Compared to everything else she was feeling, this was leagues above it.

She started rubbing the mark with two fingers. Somewhat therapeutic, almost relaxing, in a sick, twisted, way. As she was rubbing it, she turned over her arm to look at some uncomfortable scars. Of course, they are there. She couldn’t have been given a break? Out of all the days her powers show her her disgraceful marks of what not only she did to ‘let go’, but what she attempted.

She hasn’t since. She had made a promise in the name of her powers that she would stay alive for them and everyone she needed to save. And, while her family doesn’t know about it (she’s shocked she can keep it a secret) and hopefully never will, she’s also made a vow to not hurt them by ‘disappearing’ for three weeks again. She’s cut it close to doing it again but always pulls back from that dark precipice.

… She looked at the mark again. Who knows, this one goes away forever in the end, maybe if it gets extremely hard and difficult, she can resort to making bruises.

Only in extreme cases though. Even if they disappear, the guilt and shame of how weak she is will still be with her from then on out.

Still, little bruises here and there don’t seem that bad compared to everything else.

 

5.

The Winged Hero, more or less, is sweeping the nation, thankfully.

16-year-old Ellen thinks she's fulfilling her role quite nicely, as, well, the savior of all things good and innocent yadda yadda yadda. No one knows that the hero is her, so not much has changed about her home life, but it’s the thought that counts.

She was currently flying over the city enjoying the breeze. She always secretly wanted wings growing up, and at the age of thirteen she got them, but with great power comes great responsibility or whatever else was jammed into her head a gazillion times.

She landed on the corner of a building overlooking many things. Highways, people walking, taller or shorter buildings. She was content just to sit there, but then she heard it: sirens, screaming down the road towards the newly open bank. Ellen couldn’t help but sigh.

She jumped off her perch and opened her wings halfway down. She started following the cars to their destination. Getting there, she landed on a different corner a few buildings down on the opposite side of the street. Good, she could see everything on the outside, as well as some stuff on the inside through a tiny window.

She heard the choppers flying overhead, one no doubt a news reporter one. Looking through the window, she saw it getting heated in there, even without police intervention. Shit, someone's gonna have to make a move and knowing the possible outcomes she knows who has to do it.

She fluffed her wings, shot in the air a few feet, then dived towards the helpful window. She rotated her body so her feet were the things that kicked it in. Right as the window shattered, everyone looked at in shock, as if this was a new thing they were witnessing for the first time. All of them must’ve thought her previous showing was some kind of fever dream, go figure.

She landed kneeling with one hand in front of her and one pulling out her trusty _Taffu_ as she’s now named it. Without giving the bad guys room to breathe, she lunged at one and took him down easily. Boom, out like a tiny little light, though, she should probably learn to control her strength, as he also went flying through the wall ten feet away.

She immediately turned around and was met with a hard thump to the side of her midsection. The other robber picked up something akin to a table leg and rammed it into her ribs. She also went considerably flying, but not through the wall. It didn’t faze her, however, as she used Newton’s Law to rebound and take out the second and final villain.

He also went flying, but this time was placed securely into the wall instead of through it. After everything, Ellen was breathing heavily. She wiped her mouth with her arm and got her wings out. As she started to take off, all the hostages cheered for her, thanking her, whatever people say when they’re happy about not losing their life.

Ellen waved at all of them and left through the broken window she made. Her side was sore, so it took a little while longer than she liked to get home. When she did, she did everything to get ready for the night (include taking some Tylenol) and promptly passed out.

When she woke up, her side was incredibly stiff and sore. She went into the bathroom to check, and, yep, big ole bruise, right where the guy hit her. No big deal, she’s probably gonna have to deal with a lot worse considering this job. She took more Tylenol and went to make breakfast.

Getting everything ready, she finally looked at her phone, which had a barrage of texts from her friends and family. They all said around the same thing: _Good job. Did you see the news? Are you okay? That hit was pretty bad_ \- wait, how do they know about it?

Welp turns out, one hostage decided getting a good shot of the action was worth more than his own life. At least the video got 2 million views in less than 12 hours, color her surprised. Ellen pulled out her texting app getting ready to send everyone a reassuring message when her side spasmed in pain.

She set her phone down and touched the spot, guess it wasn’t as small as she thought. She wondered if her friends should know?...

Wait, it’s her job to be the strong one, especially since she’s now something akin to a demigod. If she’s panicking or in pain, what hope do “normal” people have of getting out of a terrible situation? She went through with the reassuring message and watched everyone’s relief flood through her screen. She sighed and set her phone face down on the counter and went to eat breakfast

Another job well done for the new hero of this new age.

 

+1

Who-knows-how-old-she-is-she-stopped-counting-around-150-years old Ellen was having a good night, she was, but the more tired she got the more she knew she was on the verge of breaking down soon.

She got to eat out with all of her family for once (everyone’s schedules checked out), and she got to pick the place! Double win! Now she was standing outside with her mom and brother while they waited for her dad to pay.

“Hey, sweetie?” Jennifer pointed at a dumpster. “Can you run over there and dump this, I forgot to in there and I don’t think I’m allowed in where a trash can is anymore.”

Ellen blinked a few times, wow, was she that fatigued? She grabbed what her mom was holding and shook her head. Jennifer thanked her as she walked away. Ellen reached the dumpster and tossed it in, and as she turned around she was grabbed from behind. A hand was put over her mouth and she was dragged further into the alleyway.

Eventually, she was tossed to the ground and the perpetrator, a rather dirty looking man, sat on top of her and started choking her by strangulation. Any other night Ellen could’ve easily fought him off, as she was trying now, desperately, but this attacker was enough to make her have that breakdown she was talking about.

God, she felt the beginnings of a panic attack, all the while this random mugger/rapist/evil person was no helping the situation at all, in fact, his grip tightened and was making it worse. Right as she was on the verge blacking out, she felt all weight get forcibly lifted off her. 

She gasped heavily and sat up into to pairs of arms who kept saying this like, ‘Hey, listen to my voice, breathe with me, we’ve got you,’ so on and so forth. Ellen eventually calmed down enough to see that the two voices were her parents that were worried where she had gone, as she hadn’t come back by the time Vincent came out.

Ellen sighed but flinched somewhat dramatically at the large bang she heard coming from a few feet away. She looked toward the man who was previously on top of her, to see he was being pinned. His attacker was none other than her brother with handcuffs in his hands.

While Vincent draped his coat over Ellen’s shoulders, Jennifer stood up and walked over to the current scuffle. “Merek, please, I want to too, but your sister is a little, er, ‘agitated’, be careful.”

Merek stood up straight and kept his eyes on the unconscious, restrained man, “Sorry, I kinda went into overdrive. Ellen, are you okay?” Merek finally took his eyes off and looked at his sister who was getting help to stand by their dad.

Ellen blinked in shock, “I- uh, yeah. Thanks, you guys, I might’ve been a goner.”

Vincent patted her on the back, “Just what we do as a family.” Vincent walked forward with his daughter, keeping a steady hand on her back. “Alright, who’s up to heading home and passing out?”

A collective yes/I was let out amongst the family members. Eventually, the authorities arrived and they were all allowed to go home and rest. Instead of splitting off, they all went to Jennifer and Vincent’s place for the night, considering everything that happened.

Eight hours of shut-eye later, and everyone was up and ready to go to work. While the three oldest were finishing up, the youngest bounded in, causing everyone to look at her and grimace. Right on her neck were dark, hand-shaped bruises. Looks like whatever the man wanted to do, he wanted to do it badly.

Ellen started speaking in a raspy voice, “Alright, who’s car am I getting in?”

Her family stopped moving. Collective confusion filled the air for a few seconds and was broken by Merek answering her question.

“Uh, no one’s?”

Before Ellen could object, her dad spoke up, “I called in and said you wouldn’t be coming. Told them what happened last night and they understood wholeheartedly.”

Jennifer agreed, “Good thing too, you sound just awful.”

Ellen’s raspy voice was finally able to object, “But I took pain medication! I’m fine-”

“You nearly choked to death last night, sweetie, you should-”

“I’m 100% now! I’ll just do paper work instead of talking-”

“Ellen this isn’t up for discussion, you need to rest-”

As his family bickered, Merek leaned against the counter and rubbed his eyes in exasperation. After a few for minutes of them getting out their main arguments, Merek made a realization that he needed to share with the class.

“Ellen, the world’s not going to end just because you took a break, alright?”

That shut up everyone currently talking. While Ellen just stood there shocked, her parents took in what Merek said and inwardly chastised themselves. Of course that’s the issue.

Vincent leaned forward on the backrest of the chair he was next to, “Yes, Ellen, Merek is right. No matter what you think the world can survive without their great hero for a day.”

Jennifer smiled at her boys, “Yes, and, well, even if it did end or was on the verge of chaos, you’ve built up great backups, including us, to handle it for you.” The three family members smiled at each other then looked back at Ellen, waiting for her final answer.

Ellen just stood there looking at her family flabbergasted. Of course, she’s been told this many a times before and will have to be told again and again. Years of one thought process doesn’t get brushed off in a day.

Still, doesn’t leave Ellen any less grateful about it, “... Yeah, okay. Thanks, then, for calling in. I guess I’ll head back to bed. Have fun today.”

Her family said all their goodbyes, kissed her on her cheeks and forehead, then left to go work. Ellen slowly turned around and head back to her designated guest room.

Huh, maybe bruises aren’t so bad after all, they are pretty much signals that you need help or you need to change something about your life, was her last thought before drifting off to get some more shut-eye to make up for the hours she’s missed on the previous days due to her hero work.

Such irony, she supposes.

**Author's Note:**

> [this is chapter 10 of my Whumptober collection](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16143851/chapters/37997591), but since it's also a lot of backstory for my main OC I posted it outside as well
> 
> lf you wish to scream at me here's my [tumblr](https://halorocks1214.tumblr.com/)


End file.
